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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Workers’ welfare in Qatar: Navigating a minefield

Qatari organizers of the 2022 World Cup -- in a bid to fend
off criticism in the European parliament, convince world soccer body FIFA of
progress made in improving conditions of foreign workers, and side line
political demands by international trade unions – has issued the Gulf state’s
most detailed workers welfare standards to date.

The 50-page document to be included in all World Cup-related
contracts was issued two days before a hearing in the European parliament at
which FIFA executive Theo Zwanziger is expected to testify on Qatar’s progress.

Qatar has been under pressure by the International Trade
Union Confederation (ITUC) and human rights groups since winning the World Cup
hosting rights to address concerns about the living and working conditions of
foreign workers, who account for a significant majority of the Gulf state’s
population. Critics noted that the standards do not apply to a majority of vast
infrastructure projects that don’t fall under the purview of the World Cup
organizers.

FIFA publicly joined the fray following reports last fall in
Britain’s The Guardian and other media detailing a high death rate among
workers and appalling living and working conditions. It demanded late last
month that Qatar report progress in addressing the issues in advance of this
week’s parliament hearing and next month’s FIFA executive committee meeting.

The ITUC charged in a statement that the Qatari Supreme
Committee for Delivery & Legacy’s Workers’ Welfare Standards “do not
deliver fundamental rights for workers and merely reinforce the discredited
kafala (sponsorship) system of employer control over workers.”

The union criticized details of the standard but reserved
its harshest criticism for the committee’s failure to address the sponsorship
system or its more political demands for workers’ rights to form independent
unions and engage in collective bargaining.

Qatari officials noted that the kafala system as well as the
ITUC’s political demands fall beyond the committee’s authority and were the
responsibility of other ministries and government entities. They drew a
distinction between the approach of the International Labour Organization
(ILO), which was involved in the drafting of the standards, and that of the
ITUC. It was not immediately clear if the committee had invited the ITUC to participate
in the drafting of the standards.

The ITUC’s political demands cut to the core of Qatar’s political
and social existence. The call for free trade unions and collective bargaining
challenges the political system in what is an enlightened autocracy. Together with
the kafala system which makes workers dependent on their employers for their
permits and restricts their freedom to seek alternative employment or travel,
those demands raise existential issues in a country in which the citizenry
accounts for at best 15 percent of the population.

The ILO and human rights organizations, while sharply
critical of the kafala system, have acknowledged that many Qatari rules and
regulations go a significant distance in meeting international standards.
Qatari officials have admitted in the past that they were lagging in enforcing
those rules but note that the labour ministry has in recent months increased
its number of inspectors by 30 percent.

Similarly, the impact of the newly issued Workers’ Welfare
Standards stands and falls with their enforcement. With only 38 workers working
currently working under contracts that fall within the responsibility of the
supreme committee, officials say the degree of enforcement will only be evident
later this year as work on World Cup-related infrastructure kicks into higher
gear. The committee in its document vows that the standards will be “robustly
and efficiently monitored and enforced.”

On paper, the standards constitute a significant improvement
in shaping workers’ working and living conditions. Following in the footsteps
of Qatar Foundation, the state-owned entity, that funds education, science and
community development, the standards extensively address the recruitment of
foreign workers, which constitutes one of the most onerous segments of the
migration cycle.

Workers often arrive in Qatar seriously indebted to
recruiters who charge them significant fees for recruitment and passage to the Gulf
state. Those fees can include an average kickback of $600 per worker to an
employer’s recruitment executive. Qatar Foundation last year enshrined in its
charter the principle that a worker should not pay for his or her recruitment.

The committee’s standards demand that a workers’ welfare
compliance plan be part of all tender documents. The plan would need to include
a template for contracts with recruitment agencies registered with the Qatari
labour ministry in a bid to cut out unethical middlemen and combat corruption. The
ITUC asserted that the ministry has so far failed to stop the charging of fees
even though they violate Qatari law.

The standards further address a host of issues that are at
the core of harsh criticism of Qatar that has cost it significant reputational
damage. These include assurances that workers’ passports shall not be
confiscated by their sponsors; ensuring timely payment of wages; guarantees that
workers will not be penalized for filing complaints; a hotline for workers to
file complaints; health, safety and security standards; provisions for adequate
housing; hiring of a company worker welfare officer; and a four-tier monitoring
and enforcement system.

In its statement, the ITUC charged that “not a single change
has been made or recommended to Qatar’s laws that deny workers their
fundamental rights. No workplace voice or representative is allowed for migrant
workers in Qatar. A worker welfare officer appointed by the employer is no
substitute for a duly nominated worker representative.” It dismissed the
standards as an “old, discredited self-monitoring system which has failed in
the past in Bangladesh and other countries where thousands of workers have died”
– an apparent reference to Bangladesh’s textile industry that has witnessed
multiple incidents as a result of unenforced standards.

Denouncing the standards as ‘a sham,” the union asserted
further that the standards provided for only one social worker for every 3500
employees did not provide details of how complaints would be handled or who
would manage the hotline; failed to set up a system to record workers’ deaths ensure
autopsies; did not express the intention to prosecute contractors for breaches;
and made no reference to Qatar’s high summer temperatures.

“Qatar has to change its laws, nothing else will do,” the
statement quoted ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow as saying.

Countered a Qatari official: “This is a significant step
forward. It is part of a process to unify standards with other major
stakeholders in the country. It contains a lot of positive decisions.”

The question is whether the steps will be enough to satisfy
Qatar’s most ardent critics. Most probably little short of abolishing the kafala
system will and that entails significant social and political change that
cannot be achieved with the stroke of a pen.

James M. Dorsey is a Senior Fellow at the S.
Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University. He is also co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute
for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog and a forthcoming book with the same
title.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile